Pregnant women who are in a car crash are much more likely to suffer an adverse pregnancy outcome, such as a premature birth or placental abruption, a new study has shown.

According to US scientists, while car crashes are responsible for most injuries that require hospitalisation during pregnancy, little is actually known about the link between crashes and specific pregnancy outcomes. They decided to look into this further.

They analysed data relating to almost 880,000 pregnant women aged between 16 and 46, who gave birth to a single baby between 2001 and 2008.

The scientists from North Carolina focused on four specific pregnancy outcomes:

-Premature birth

-Placental abruption, which is when the placenta partially or completely separates from the lining of the uterus

-Premature rupture of the membranes (breaking of the waters)

-Stillbirth.

The study found that pregnant women who were involved in a car crash were more likely to go into labour earlier, suffer a placental abruption or experience their waters breaking early.

While previous studies only focused on one crash, this study also looked at women who were in multiple crashes. Not surprisingly, the more crashes they were in, the more likely they were to suffer an adverse outcome.

Women who were in more than one crash were also more likely to suffer a stillbirth. However overall, the risk of a stillbirth was raised if the woman was not wearing a seatbelt, irrespective of how many crashes she was in.

"Non-seat belt use and the lack of airbags were associated with elevated rates of selected adverse pregnancy outcomes. Most notably, the stillbirth rate following a crash involving an unbelted pregnant driver was almost three times as high as the stillbirth rate following a crash involving a belted pregnant driver," explained lead scientist, Dr Catherine Vladutiu, of the University of North Carolina.

She emphasised that doctors ‘should be aware of these effects and should advise pregnant women about the risk of being in a crash and the long-term consequences that crashes can have on their pregnancies'.

"Given the associations that were observed, a better understanding of the circumstances surrounding crashes during pregnancy is needed to develop effective strategies for prevention," she added.

Details of these findings are published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.

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